A long time ago -- 1991 to be exact -- a friend of mine named Joe was a contractor for the aerospace company I worked at. Just like a consultant, Joe was paid by the hour.
At some point Joe decided he was going to leave that company to take a permanent job elsewhere, as he had a medical problem and wanted to get better insurance. Upon telling my employer of his plans, the employer came back and said, “What if we make you a full-time employee here?”